These boots are made for walking my way back to health and happiness

For The Love of Art

I’m completely overwhelmed by the generosity of two Scottish artists who have donated stunning paintings to my fundraising efforts for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. My friend Louise Burns, who owns the fabulous Christo’s Gallery on Glasgow’s Great Western Road, approached artist Angela Hynd to ask whether she would like to get involved with my cause. Angela generously offered to contribute and painted the beautiful ‘Silver Birch’ in oils. She says that the painting represents growth because in early Celtic mythology, the birch symbolised renewal and purification. Bundles of birch twigs were used to drive out the spirits of the old year, and gardeners still use the birch besom, or broom, to ‘purify’ their gardens.

Angela’s partner Scott Prentice, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, also wished to contribute and created the gorgeous ‘Sunflowers’ in acrylics. It’s a rich, heart-warming painting.

The paintings will be auctioned off in Christo’s with the proceeds going to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, an organisation which funds a quarter of all breast cancer research in the UK. I decided to get involved in fundraising following my breast cancer diagnosis last September. I’ve signed up for the charity’s West Highland Way Challenge next month and I’m currently in training. These paintings will help my fundraising efforts enormously and the kindness of Angela, Scott and Louise has given me a very welcome impetus and motivation to complete the challenge.

So a huge THANK YOU to the artists….and a bit about them:-

Born in 1971, Angela Hynd found her first creative outlet in the family silversmith workshop where she served her apprenticeship making hand crafted traditional Celtic jewellery. Deciding to follow her own artistic path she then took up studies in illustration and had been working in this field since graduating in 1999. During the last ten years Angela has been concentrating on oils, her favourite medium and due to the appreciation of her work, is spending more and more time in the studio. Her work now features in collections all over the world with RBS being one of her patrons.

Scott Pentice is a Glasgow born artist who studied Illustration at GSA but through the years he has honed his skill by using all sorts of mediums to display his message, usually of beauty but often leaning to the darker side of life. He says: “I work both traditionally using a variety of mediums such as watercolour, gouache, acrylic, pastel or pen & ink but I also enjoy using more modern techniques in computer image generation and image manipulation, using our G3 power Mac. My partner and I are currently writing and illustrating our own children’s books and also have a keen interest in photography and animation.”

Christo’s Gallery has collections from mainly Scottish-based artists and designers. Owner Louise Burns takes time to source each piece and displays a wide range of art, with something to appeal to most tastes. She says: “Sourcing, displaying and selling beautiful art gives me a great amount of personal pleasure. Being able to share my interest with others is invigorating and satisfying.”